It seemed fitting to write a blog for this special day – my relationship with books and reading has been lifelong (well, from the age of 3, but who’s counting?) and it just seemed right to tap some words into the space on the theme. The post seems especially appropriate as Coming Home is pretty much a homage to the two things that have stayed with me: books and video games.

So what I thought I’d do is to list some of my favourite Gamebooks and Visual Novels – the perfect blend of the two, in my opinion!

1. The Eternal Champions: The Cyber Warriors

It was so hard to track this down from the depth of my childhood memories – it’s a gamebook from the 1990s and based on a SEGA Megadrive game that I never got round to playing. I always remember the joys of creating my character, especially picking the fighting style and seeing the resultant combat mechanics in the game (I wanted to learn Aikido so much after this book). Cyber Warriors sees the reader hopping between different periods of time and countries around the world – like a time travelling Street Fighter. The premise, however, goes a little deeper than that. Clones of the Eternal Champions are trying to replace the real ones – and it’s your job to protect them.

I always found this gamebook so difficult – it was definitely one that had a lot of replay value. This was one where I could play and read through if I was finding a section a little too tricky. The second in the series was called Citadel of Chaos, which I sadly never got to read!

2. Sonic vs. Zonik

I was (and am) a huge fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, so anything that had the blue blur in book form is an instant win for me! This book came out in 1994 – before the Sonic Adventure series (which I actually really enjoy as well as the 2D side scrollers) – so it was unusual to see Sonic and Tails with voices. There are homages to the console games in the book – there’s a rather long pinball segment, for example – but there’s also the more mundane parts of reality covered. I always remember the surprise at seeing Sonic and Tails taking a bus for the first time (despite being rather fast individuals) and the option to ask the driver where he’d recommend was so amusing to my younger self. I really want to find this again to refresh my memory!

3. VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

This is a visual novel I played through recently and I feel as though this game was made for me. The aesthetic, soundtrack and characters are beautifully designed – channelling that 90s retro futuristic vibe. The joys and downfalls of technology are insightfully plotted that, despite being set sometime in the future, could be easily seen in the next few decades. In my opinion, good science fiction is about the present in its projections of the future – and VA-11 HA11-A has this in spades.

Its strength, however, lies in its characters. In a bartending simulator, people come to you – and their personalities and stories are the main ingredients to keep you coming to the screen (you don’t get paid in real life for your shifts there, after all). There’s been a lot of fan art, which shows how much these characters are admired. The mechanic of mixing drinks is fantastic – as you understand each of your patrons, you know what drinks they need as they undergo rather harrowing experiences. Highly recommended!

4. Hotel Dusk

I’m picking the first one of the series as I have a greater emotional connect to this one. It’s strange: it connects me temporally to my last year of my BA (2008), and the feeling of leaving University tethered itself to Kyle Hyde’s short stay at Room 215.

He comes to the hotel in order to find his former work partner, Bradley, whilst working as a door to door salesman. Every person in his corridor has some link to each other – because of course they would – and Kyle finds out much more than he bargained for.

I loved the format of the Visual Novel – it worked perfectly with the Nintendo DS. You could open and close it like a book – it even serves as a function to solve puzzles. There’s a notebook in your inventory where you can scribble notes with the stylus – and it just feels so authentic with that tangible feel. I also fell in love with the artwork, style and characters – if only Cinq were still around *sigh*.

Actually, if you wanted to revisit this lovely art style, check out the Visual Novel One Night Stand – a simple premise that packs a lot of character and story within its scenes.

So this is just a taste of some of my influences in terms of game mechanics and themes – I may do a series of these if people are interested!

Suzie

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